Points well taken, Kat. I still contend that those who commit atrocities in the name of religion are rarely following the basic beliefs of their own religions. As a Catholic, I am ashamed of the awful things done in the name of my religion - the Crusades, the Inquisition, IRA terrorism, and perhaps in part even the Holocaust. The Crusades and the Inquisition had an "official" authority from the Powers That Be in the Catholic Church, but those in power at the time were hardly what one would call "religious." Alexander VI was pope during the Spanish Inquisition - he was also the father of the infamous Lucretia Borgia. During the Crusades, the papacy was certainly more a political throne than religious.
Maybe part of the problem is that the people who are really religious tend to be meek and gentle, not the type of people you expect to find as winners when there's a struggle for power. Power goes to those who strive for it. However, if I am a meek, religious person and allow my church to be led by a tyrant, then I must bear some responsibility for the tyrant's actions.
I realize that Christianity has been dominant in our society far too long, and things need to be put into balance. However, I disagree with those who seek to cleanse all vestiges of Christianity from our language and culture. There are Christians who seek to dispose of Christian traditions because they had pagan origins, and I disagree with them, too. We will all be much poorer if such a cleansing is allowed to succeed.
-Joe Offer-